History Hints at What Awaits Max Scherzer After One- and No-Hitter

Image

The Nationals' Max Scherzer is coming off a one-hitter and a near-perfect game.CreditAlex Brandon/Associated Press

By Victor Mather

June 25, 2015

Max Scherzer’s amazing outings in his last two starts prompted much speculation that they were the best consecutive starts ever. A 16-strikeout, complete-game one-hitter, followed by a near-perfect game spoiled only by a hit batsman with two outs in the ninth, is as dazzling a pair of starts as you will find in baseball.

Scherzer is scheduled to start again for the Washington Nationals on Friday night at Philadelphia, but how is he likely to fare? Do two great starts tend to lead to another, or do they herald a crash back to earth?

A pitcher has thrown a one-hitter and a no-hitter consecutively three other times since 1914, according to Baseball-Reference.com. The results of those pitchers’ subsequent starts are not encouraging for Scherzer.

Against a diluted wartime league, Jim Tobin, a knuckleballer for the Boston Braves, followed a one-hitter with a no-hitter in April 1944. In his next start, against the Brooklyn Dodgers at a chilly Ebbets Field, he made it through only three innings, giving up four runs and seven hits.

Image

Johnny Vander Meer, with the Cincinnati Reds in 1938, became the only man to throw consecutive no-hitters.CreditThe New York Times

The Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance of the Brooklyn Robins, as the Dodgers were then called, followed a one-hitter with a no-hitter in 1925. In his next start, in St. Louis, he gave up nine runs. “Abadonna, the fallen angel, never crashed with such force as did Dazzy Vance today,” the New York Times article eruditely, if a trifle obscurely, began. The purple prose of the sportswriter Richards Vidmer continued, “The routs of Warsaw, Waterloo and the Argonne combined were not as destructive as the Cardinal fury that swept him into the wastebasket of lost ideals.”

Howard Ehmke of the 1923 Red Sox threw his no-hitter before his one-hitter. But he fared little better in his next game, giving up six runs.

If we loosen the restrictions, and look at those who did not throw a no-hitter but did manage consecutive one-hitters, we do find some good follow-up performances.

The most recent pitcher to toss back-to-back one-hitters was R. A. Dickey, who accomplished the feat for the Mets in June 2012. The next time out, in an interleague game against the Yankees at Citi Field, he gave up five runs in six innings. He was philosophical about it: “All good things come to an end or they wouldn’t end, right? That’s just the way of it.”

Though Dickey came up short, Whitey Ford of the Yankees in 1955 and Mort Cooper of the Cardinals in 1943 both followed their two gems solidly, each giving up three runs in a complete game.

The best follow-ups after consecutive one-hitters were by Sam McDowell of the 1966 Indians and Lon Warneke of the 1934 Cubs. McDowell threw 12 innings, giving up only one run (in the first) and seven hits while not factoring in the decision in a game in Baltimore. Warneke threw an 11-inning victory, giving up two runs.

Image

The Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance of the Brooklyn Robins, as the Dodgers were then called, followed a one-hitter with a no-hitter in 1925.CreditAssociated Press

(Dave Stieb in 1988 is a special case: His one-hitters were his last two games of the season, and the Blue Jays did not make the playoffs. For what it’s worth, he gave up one run in eight innings in his next official start, seven months later.)

One oddity of pitching rotations in the 1940s and 1950s: The concepts of starter and reliever were not as firmly established. Tobin’s next appearance after his two gems was in relief. And Ford had a relief appearance between his two one-hitters.

The name that came up most often after Scherzer’s great outings was the one synonymous with back-to-back pitching greatness: Johnny Vander Meer, who as a Cincinnati Red in 1938 became the only man to throw consecutive no-hitters.

And Vander Meer remained in fine form in his next start. It was not a third no-hitter, but he did pitch a complete-game four-hitter in a 14-1 victory over the Boston Braves.

On Friday, Scherzer will be looking for a Vander Meer-type performance. If he does throw another masterpiece, it could rival the greatest three-game stretches in baseball history.

The best one besides Vander Meer’s? How about Eddie Plank of the St. Louis Browns in August 1916? A two-hitter, then a one-hitter, then a two-hitter. All at 40 years old.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: After a One-Hitter and a No-Hitter, It’s Usually Trouble. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe